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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28579284">Letters</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivinLaVidaLisa/pseuds/LivinLaVidaLisa'>LivinLaVidaLisa</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Stories of Thedas (DA writing prompts) [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Origins</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Love Letters, Mild Mentions of Blood, Pining, mabari pov, no beta we die like men, not super graphic but the warning is there</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-01-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-13 05:14:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,848</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28579284</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/LivinLaVidaLisa/pseuds/LivinLaVidaLisa</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>8. Letters</p><p>Alistair and Barkspawn bond over a shared interest.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Alistair/Female Cousland (Dragon Age), Alistair/Female Warden (Dragon Age), Alistair/Warden (Dragon Age)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Stories of Thedas (DA writing prompts) [8]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2058417</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>8</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Letters</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>imagine, if you will, having a whole conversation with a dog about your crush. thank you.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>On their last night in Denerim the party had decided to stay at the Gnawed Noble Inn. Elissa had readily agreed to Leliana's request and it didn't take much to convince the others. It gave them a chance to sleep in actual beds for once and a nice hearty meal that wasn't a wilders stew, under or over cooked, spicy, or Orlesian. Barkspawn didn't mind one way or the other, as long as he got to stay with Elissa anywhere would do. It made Elissa happy, and that made Barkspawn happy. </p><p>Barkspawn stood to attention when the food was brought to their table. Elissa cut a piece of meat off and flung it in the air toward Barkspawn. He jumped and caught the morsel in his teethe and chomped away, licking his chops Barkspawn looked back to Elissa to see if he would be given anymore treats. Elissa's attention was elsewhere now, she looked about the tavern searching for something. "Where's Alistair?" She muttered to no one in particular. Turning her head towards her faithful hound, "Barkspawn, go find Alistair. He'll be devastated if he misses this meal." Barkspawn sighed and Elissa chuckled. "Don't worry I'll save some for you." She tossed another bite of meat to him and he ate it in one.</p><p>Sniffing the air for the now familiar vague cheesy scent that was Alistair, Barkspawn quickly trotted down the halls to where the rooms were following the scent all the way to a door that was slightly ajar. Pushing the door open with his head Barkspawn was able to enter to find Alistair hunched over a desk writing something down. Alistair's brows were furrowed in concentration and was misted in sweat. The man muttered to himself saying things <em>no that's not right. Stupid.</em> Barkspawn stood there waiting for Alistair to look up and notice him but it was clear to the hound that Alistair was far too distracted. Barkspawn let out a loud bark which made Alistair yelp. "Marker's breath!" Alistair quickly stood to cover the paper he was writing on and turned toward the source of the sound. After a short pause Alistair visibly relaxed and plopped back down in his seat. "Oh thank the Maker it's just you." Alistair brought his big hand up to his forehead and brushed away his sweat. Barkspawn waited again for Alistair to stand and follow him but Alistair just turned back to his paper, "Oh! It's smudged! And I thought this one was going well too..." Alistair groaned and crumpled up the paper he had been so focused on just a moment ago and tossed it into the burning hearth across the room. Alistair rubbed his hands down his face and groaned unintelligibly before picking up another piece of paper and started his scribbling again. Growing ever more frustrated with the man, Barkspawn huffed and approached Alistair to drag him to dinner.</p><p>As Barkspawn was about to catch the sleeve of Alistair's shirt in his teeth, Alistair scooted back and looked to Barkspawn, "Okay- you know Elissa most, right? You're her best friend- well her best dog friend." Barkspawn growled a warning at Alistair, "aaaanyway. What do you think she would say to this?" Alistair cleared his throat and rose the paper to read from it, "Dear Elissa-" Barkspawn interrupted by pulling on Alistair's boot. "Hey! Come on now! It's short!" Alistair paused and looked back to the paper and winced, "It's fairly short... it's one page this time at least." Barkspawn barked at Alistair and stood by the door, insisting that Alistair should come with him. "Just listen to my letter and I will do whatever it you want from me. Please! It won't take long!" Alistair pleaded and Barkspawn rolled his eyes and sighed. The mabari slowly walked toward Alistair and sat patiently next to him. "Thank you, was that so hard? Now, where was I..." Alistair looked over his paper once more and began to read.</p><p>"Dear Elissa, you are a bright light in a sea of darkness-" Barkspawn scoffed at Alistair. "What?" Barkspawn barked back at Alistair, "Hmm, I see what you mean. You're right. Too Orlesian. I should keep it simple."  Alistair grabbed his quill and scratched a line through the paper and wrote a few things down.  "Okay, what about this? Elissa you are the bravest person I know. Your skill and determination are-" Barkspawn yawned, interrupting Alistair once again. "You think you could do better?" Alistair snipped at Barkspawn, the hound barked in agreement. "You can't even hold a quill!" </p><p>Alistair and Barkspawn argued back and forth, well Alistair argued at the hound at every utterance Barkspawn made. Alistair made revision after revision of his letter, so much so that Barkspawn wasn't sure what Alistair was trying to get across to Elissa. In fact Barkspawn wasn't sure what Alistair was trying to say from the start. The hound grunted his confusion at Alistair and pawed at his boots until Alistair looked back at him. "What? You know what I'm doing- I'm writing a letter." Alistair just stared at the dog and shrugged as if it was obvious. Barkspawn tilted his head to the side and looked back to Alistair. "It's a... I just wanted to write down my feelings... about her. I figured if I could write it all down I wouldn't embarrass myself in front of her as I usually do." Alistair scratched his chin as reread his letter for the umpteenth time. "I care about her a great deal and... I just don't want to mess it up." Alistair sighed. Barkspawn growled lowly at the man, Alistair of all people should know that nobody cares more for Elissa than him. Alistair just chuckled at the action, and pat Barkspawn on the head. "Don't worry, I know you were there first. I've already made my peace with that." Alistair gave Barkspawn a small smile. Barkspawn just huffed, of course he was there first, <em>he</em> was Elissa's best friend. Barkspawn paused his huffing and peered at Alistair who now wore a cheeky smirk. "Of course, that means you'll have to make peace with me one day. Hmm?"</p><p>No one was more loyal to Elissa than Barkspawn. Even if Alistair has stayed by Elissa's side during the battle at Ostagar. It didn't matter that Alistair fought bravely with her in every battle and protected her because Barkspawn did those things too, but Barkspawn was better. He knew this because the last darkspawn horde they fought in Alistair took a massive wound. Elissa and Alistair were tanking the horde and shielding blows left and right. Barkspawn was lead far from Elissa's side, distracted by lowly genlocks, when an alpha hurlock came up behind Elissa and raised it's jagged sword high to strike her down. Barkspawn was too far, he wouldn't reach her in time the hound had feared, then Alistair dashed behind Elissa and pushed her out of the way and took the blow himself. Elissa shouted and rolled back on to her feet and charged the hurlock, lopping it's ugly head off it's shoulders. Thankfully one well placed fire ball, curtesy of Morrigan, eliminated the rest of the darkspawn. Barkspawn came running toward Elissa, <em>Alistair!</em> She had shouted in a harsh, breathless tone. Alistair was on his knees and clutched his wound, blood poured from between his fingers. Elissa had rushed to his side and added her own hands to his wound to stop the bleeding. She called for Wynne, her voice wavering. Barkspawn could tell she was close to tears, he couldn't help but be angry at Alistair in the moment. If Barkspawn was there he knew he'd have been fast enough to drag the hurlock to the ground allowing Elissa time to back him up and kill the monster. But Barkspawn hadn't been close enough for that to matter.</p><p>Elissa had been so upset with Alistair after the fight. Barkspawn thought Elissa would have treated Alistair the same way she had treated others she had been angry with in the past. She would avoid them, ignore when they spoke, and spoke harshly towards them, but she didn't do that to Alistair. After Wynne had healed the worst of Alistair's wounds Elissa hugged him and cried. Called him a brash fool and many other things, but she never let go not until Alistair had whined from the pain. </p><p>Recalling the recent memory sparked a thought in Barkspawn, a thought he didn't like at all. It was horrifying to Barkspawn to think that Elissa could love someone as much as she loved Barkspawn. Barkspawn's ears dropped and he looked back to Alistair who still sat there with a satisfied look on his face. Alistair was right, Elissa did care for Alistair too and if she got her way she'd keep Alistair around for as long as she could. However, Barkspawn would never admit that, he growled and barked at Alistair. Alistair only laughed and waved his paper toward Barkspawn, "Ha! You're only mad because you don't want Elissa to give anyone else belly rubs isn't it?!" They both paused and Alistair blushed, "wait- No- Not like that. Oh! you know what I meant!" They both jolted when they heard someone walking in through the door.</p><p>"What in the name of Holy Andraste is going on in here?" Elissa asked watching Barkspawn and Alistair stare back at her in shock, her eyes looked passed them and landed on Alistair's stack of rejected letters. "What are all of those?" She pointed to the desk and Alistair's entire face flushed to a crimson red. </p><p>"Nothing!" Alistair scooped every last piece of paper up in his arms and hurried to the burning hearth, "Just some kindling!" Before Elissa could stop him Alistair dumped his letters into the fire and they all burned to ash. </p><p>"Ooookay then." Elissa eyed Alistair up and down curiously.</p><p>Alistair just smiled awkwardly and cleared his throat, "So, what can I help you with?" His face was still red and he tried to hide his shaking hands behind his back. </p><p>"Well, I sent Barkspawn to come get you for dinner a while ago. I was wondering what was taking so long..."</p><p>"Barkspawn, why didn't you mention it was dinner time?!" Alistair asked accusingly, Barkspawn only looked at Alistair with great annoyance and huffed. </p><p>"Don't worry, I saved you a plate." Elissa giggled as Barkspawn whined, "and one for you too. I wouldn't forget about my favorite war hound." Barkspawn barked happily and started to trot back to their table, and paused when he noticed Elissa and Alistair weren't following. "So, are you going to tell me what was on those papers?" </p><p>"Uh- No, actually." Alistair walked passed Elissa and rubbed his stomach, "I'm starved! Simply famished!" </p><p>"Oh, come on! Why won't you tell me?" Elissa jogged behind him, "I bet it was Orlesian poetry, wasn't it?" Alistair only hummed thoughtfully in response. Barkspawn may not have liked the idea of sharing Elissa, but Alistair did seem to make her happy, and that would just have to be good enough for Barkspawn. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Character development? In this fanfiction? It's more likely than you think.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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